Shannon Quesnel
Penticton tries for high high-five record
PENTICTON - Nobody can be left hanging for high-fives during a Guinness World Record attempt this Friday. The South Okanagan Event Centre wants as many residents as it can get for the most simultaneous high-fives event prior to the Penticton Vees' season home opener. So far, the current record is 4,699 achieved by The Kroger...
Oliver orchardist hopes new apple to hit big
OLIVER - An orchardist wants his sweet Okana apples to bear fruit for all of the Okanagan Valley. On a farm south of Oliver is a small brown and yellow home surrounded by apple trees. David Evans lives there and has been growing fruit for 70 years, a trade he learned from his father. He's...
Kelowna-to-Osoyoos airport shuttle could be big boon
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - There are 120,000 reasons why a shuttle should ferry people from as far south as Osoyoos to Kelowna International Airport. Kelowna airport director Sam Samaddar says it's people. There are more than 100,000 out-of-region tourists and residents who use the airport and either live in the valley or visit the valley. But there's...
Bad properties, new buildings on council menu
PENTICTON - An abandoned property moves closer to destruction tonight if no action is taken to clean it up. The home at 555 Wade Ave. East is boarded up and decrepit, with overgrown weeds and a cracked driveway. Real estate agent Rick Appleton said at a previous meeting the owners plan on cleaning the site...
City gets $10,000 for biz smarts
PENTICTON - The city's business smarts were given a $10,000 gold star at a Vancouver conference this week. The municipality won the 2013 Open for Business Award by the province for assisting small businesses at the local government level. Other winners were Kelowna, Central Saanich, Chilliwack, Coquitlam, Fort St. James, and the City of Langley. Newly...
Guns and drugs gets man 6 months
PENTICTON - The RCMP arrested three men on Friday but only one was charged with drug and firearm violations. The drug task force first took into custody three men in a vehicle on Eckhardt Avenue. Following this arrest police visited a residence in the Summerland Trout Creek area and busted a woman at the scene....
Fifty-plus crowd give thumbs up for pot petition
PENTICTON - Those pushing 50 are the biggest posse of pushers for a petition to decriminalize cannabis. When Canadians think of people using pot or people who support the legalization they might think of 20-year-olds with dreadlocks lounging at the beach or kids toking up behind a convenience store. In Penticton, however, it is the...
Racers to willingly run through mud Saturday
OLIVER - Bad weather won't be a problem for competitors in this year's Freak'N Farmer race. There could be showers and thunderstorms on Saturday with a high of only 17 C but that just means it will be cool and breezy for the racers throwing themselves uphill, covered in mud at a farm in Oliver....
Recycled highway cures dusty road
OKANAGAN FALLS - Cheap recycled Highway 97 bits will improve a dusty stretch in Okanagan Falls. A 1.5 kilometre road connecting the $11.7 million Okanagan Falls Wastewater Treatment Plant to Highway 97 will get paved to keep the dust down and improve access for one of the few properties along side it. "The newly created...
Senior struck, killed during morning stroll
SUMMERLAND - A Summerland woman was killed by a motorcycle while she was out for a stroll last week. Maxine Svennes, 84, was struck by an eastbound BMW motorcycle when she tried to cross Prairie Valley Road in a marked crosswalk in the 7700 block at about 11:30 a.m. on Sept. 13. The motorcycle rider...
Community centre gets even swankier with new patio furniture
PENTICTON - The city pool is looking more like a swanky deck thanks to the addition of several colourful outdoor lounging chairs. The City of Penticton recreation department has just put the finishing touches on a new outdoor patio. The project was possible through a donation from a long-time pool patron, Maureen Sewell. “The pool...
Super teens use knowledge as weapon against epilepsy ignorance
SUMMERLAND - No car and no funding are no problems for a Summerland squad looking to shatter the stigma of epilepsy. Teenagers Caitlin Shaw, Hayley Anderson and Dan Nixon started the Epilepsy Awareness Squad under no banner except their own. Typically, volunteers who wish to give of themselves join already established entities such as the...
RCMP want drivers to slow down when passing police cars
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Drivers are still not getting the message about slowing down or pulling over for police cars. In response the RCMP will step up their campaign this month, enforcing the slow-down and move-over rules, Cpl. Dan Moskaluk says. RCMP traffic services officers and other personnel are reporting being involved in some very close calls...
Chamber changes its colours, unveils new logo next week
PENTICTON - Changing your furniture won't catch the eye of your neighbours but a new coat of paint might get them to knock on your door. That's the reaction the Penticton and Wine Country Chamber of Commerce is hoping for with its new logo and colour scheme. General manager John Devitt says the chamber is...
Boy’s death felt by Oliver residents
OLIVER - Its been several days since eight-year-old Cody O'Connor died at Canuck Place Children's Hospice but the impact from his death is still fresh in people's minds. Cody was at the hospital to be treated for burns he suffered in a devastating fire on Aug. 28. He was pulled out of a burning motor...